News Polls

"Since 9/11, America’s role in the world has taken on an increasingly important part of our political discourse. Questions about the use of military force, commitments to nation building, the war on terrorism, humanitarian disaster relief, women’s rights around the world, as well as our relations with other nations have sparked heated debates from the halls of Congress to college dorm rooms. People’s views are informed by their values and personal experiences, as well as international events. While these values and experiences are relatively well understood, the influence of religious identity and engagement has not been explored in-depth. In this first major study of religion and international affairs, we explore the role that religious worldviews play in shaping views about America’s role in the world and foreign policy priorities."

This survey is a follow-up survey to the 1999, 1993, 1992, and 1987 Surveys of American Catholics. The survey included interviews with 875 self-described Catholics. Most of the items in the survey also were asked in the previous surveys. By asking the same questions at different points in time, trends can by measured. D'Antonio and his associates published these survey results in the 2007 book, American Catholics Today, the fourth in a series to monitor trends among American Catholics.

In this March 2005 ABC News/Washington Post poll, a random national sample of 1,001 Americans was asked to discuss their attitudes and opinions regarding the Bush Administration, Social Security, the situation in Iraq, countries posing a potential threat to the United States, terrorism, credit card fraud, Pope John Paul the Second, and Terri Schiavo. Demographic variables include: gender, age, race, education, and income.

In this April 2005 ABC News/Washington Post poll, a national sample of 1,082 Americans (including a Catholic oversample for a total of 284 Catholics) was asked to discuss their attitudes and opinions regarding the Catholic Church, and the recent selection of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict the 16th. Respondents were asked to give their views on questions about: Pope Benedict's priority list, maintaining traditions, modernizing policies, the priesthood, women, and overall opinions of the Catholic Church. Demographic variables include: gender, age, race, and education.

In this April 2005 ABC News/Washington Post poll, a random national sample of 1,007 Americans was asked to discuss their attitudes and opinions regarding the Social Security investments in the stock market, terrorism, the death penalty, gay marriage, abortion, stem-cell research, and political parties. In addition, the poll also contains questions on Tom Delay, court judge nominations, and how President Bush is handling Social Security, the economy, energy policy, and the situation in Iraq. Demographic variables include: gender, age, race, education, and income.

In this May 2004 ABC News/Washington Post poll, a random national sample of 1,005 Americans were asked to give their views on the relationship between religion and politics. Questions were also asked concerning the 2004 election. Demographic variables include: Gender, age, race, income, religion and education.

In this February 2004 ABC News/Washington Post poll, a random national sample of 1,028 Americans were asked to give their opinions on the child sex-abuse issues within the Catholic Church. In addition, this poll asks the respondents about their views on homosexual marriage. Demographic variables include: gender, age, race, income, religion and education.

In this October 2003 ABC News/Washington Post poll a random national sample of 1,281 American adults, including an oversample of Catholics, were asked to give their views towards Pope John Paul II. In addition, this poll asked the respondents about their opinions on a wide range of other issues, including premarital sex, birth control, and the death penalty. Demographic variables include: Gender, age, race, income, religion and education.

This 2001 ABC News/Washington Post Poll is a special topics poll of 1,350 randomly selected adults. The poll asked respondents about their attitudes toward President Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. Questions also addressed the state of the nation, the importance of issues like protecting the environment, and how well the president is handling education, the economy, and international affairs. Additional variables include religious and political affiliation, gender, age, education, and race.

In this September 2003 ABC News poll, a random national sample of 1,004 Americans were asked to give their opinions on a variety of issues related to Islam, the Middle East, terrorism, and the war in Iraq. Some of the included topics were the respondent’s views of Islam as a violent or peaceful religion, the success or failure of the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism, concerns about traveling, and threats to privacy as a result of the war on terrorism. Demographic variables include: Gender, age, race, income, religion and education.

In this December 2002 ABC News/Washington Post poll, a random national sample of 1,209 Americans were asked to give their opinions on a variety of topics. These topics ranged from questions about President Bush's handling of domestic and international issues, to opinions about potential military action in Iraq, and finally to the Catholic Church priest sexual abuse scandal. The Catholic Church questions were designed to be follow-up questions to previous surveys on the Catholic Church. Questions related to the Catholic Church include: whether or not respondents had a favorable or unfavorable view of the Catholic Church, respondents views on sexual abuse reporting by the church, and opinions on trust in the Church to handle the sexual abuse issue. Questions on religion and church attendance were also asked. Demographic variables include gender, age, race, income, and education.

This survey is a follow-up survey to the 1993, 1992, and 1987 Surveys of American Catholics. The survey included interviews with 877 self-described Catholics. Most of the items in the survey also were asked in the 1987 and 1993 surveys. By asking the same questions at different points in time, trends can by measured. D'Antonio and his associates published these survey results in the 2001 book, American Catholics: Gender, Generation, and Commitment, the third in a series to monitor trends among American Catholics.

In this June 2002 ABC News poll, a random national sample of 1,004 Americans was asked to discuss their views on the current crisis in the Catholic Church concerning priests and child sexual abuse. This poll was conducted prior to the June bishops' meeting in Dallas. Questions included in the poll were: expectations for bishops' meeting, contributions to the problem of sexual abuse of children by priests, personal knowledge of sexual abuse by a priest, and overall opinions of the Catholic Church. In addition, the poll also contains questions on the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. intelligence agencies, and the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. Demographic variables include: gender, age, race, and education.

In this February 2002 ABC News Poll, a random national sample of 1,008 U.S. adults was asked about their views on the Catholic Church priest and child sexual abuse scandal. Questions for respondents included: whether or not the current sexual abuse scandal was a major problem; if the Catholic Church was doing enough to deal with the crisis; the effect of the scandal on the reputation of the Church; the Father John Geoghan abuse case in Boston; and their views on sexual abuse reporting by the church. Demographic variables include: gender, age, race, income, and education.

The focus of this survey was the 1984 presidential election. Additional questions were asked on abortion, prayer in schools, church in politics, government and religion, the Moral Majority, the Equal Rights Amendment, nuclear arms, rating of President Reagan, campaign practices, and foreign policy. This survey was given to those who did not vote in the last election. This survey is related to the 84BSWKVT file. The same basic set of questions was asked of voters and non-voters in the last election. The 84BSWKVT file contains the same basic questions, with additional questions asked of those who had voted in the 1980 presidential election, are registered/eligible to vote and were absolutely certain or quite certain to vote in the 1984 presidential election. Questions were also asked of those who were 18 to 21 years of age who did not vote in the 1980 presidential election, but are registered/eligible to vote and were absolutely certain or quite certain to vote in the 1984 presidential election, and of those who were female and did not vote or were not sure they had voted in the 1980 presidential election but who were absolutely certain or quite certain to vote in the 1984 presidential election.

The focus of this survey was the 1984 presidential election. Additional questions were asked on abortion, prayer in schools, church in politics, government and religion, the Moral Majority, the Equal Rights Amendment, nuclear arms, rating of President Reagan, campaign practices, and foreign policy. This survey was given to those who had voted in the last election. This survey is related to the 84BSWKNV. The same basic set of questions was asked of those who did not vote in the last election and those who did vote in the last election. The 84BSWKNT file contains the same basic questions, with additional questions asked of those who had voted in 1980 presidential election, are registered/eligible to vote and were absolutely certain or quite certain to vote in the 1984 presidential election. Questions were also asked of those who were 18 to 21 years of age who did not vote in the 1980 presidential election, but are registered/eligible to vote and were absolutely certain or quite certain to vote in the 1984 presidential election, and of those who were female and did not vote or were not sure they had voted in the 1980 presidential election but who were absolutely certain or quite certain to vote in the 1984 presidential election.

This 1997 ABC News Religion Poll was a special topics poll of 752 randomly selected adults. The poll questioned respondents about their beliefs in God, including how religious they are and their views on Christ. Questions were also asked about Fundamentalist views, as well as level of religious and racial tolerance. Demographic variables in the poll include gender, age, education, and race.

In this June 2001 ABC News/Beliefnet Poll, a random national sample of 1,022 Americans was asked to identify their religious affiliation in an open-ended question. Respondents were then asked to give their views on questions about stem-cell research, political affiliation, and abortion. Demographic variables include: gender, age, race, education, and income.

In this April 2002 ABC News/Washington Post poll, a random national sample of 1,207 Americans was asked first about their views on the current Middle East crisis and then about the Catholic Church's handling of the issue of priests and child sexual abuse. Questions related to the Catholic Church include: Respondents' views on how the Catholic Church has handled the crisis, their views on reporting by the church about sexual abuse, their views on Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, and finally their expectations for the upcoming meeting of American cardinals at the Vatican. Demographic variables include: gender, age, race, income, and education.

In this March 2002 ABC News/Washington Post/Beliefnet survey, a random national sample of 1,086 Americans was asked about their views on the Catholic Church and how the church has handled the issue of priests and child sexual abuse. Questions for respondents included: whether they felt the Catholic Church was in crisis, their satisfaction with the leadership of the church, should priests be allowed to marry, should the church allow for women priests, the impact of the sexual abuse scandal on the reputation of the church, and their awareness of abuse in their own church or parish. Demographic variables include: gender, age, race, and education.

This 1992 survey of self-identified Catholics, called the "Catholics Speak Out" poll, like the 1987 Catholics Speak Out survey "probes the degree to which Catholics have changed their image of themselves and of their roles in the church. ...[The] study focuses on questions of individual freedom, personal autonomy, moral authority, and democratic versus autocratic decision-making in the Roman Catholic Church in the last years of the 20th century (D'Antonio, Davidson, Hoge, and Wallace, 1989, p. 1,3; 1996, p. vii)."

This 1987 survey of self-identified Catholics "probes the degree to which Catholics have changed their image of themselves and of their roles in the church. ...[The] study focuses on questions of individual freedom, personal autonomy, moral authority, and democratic versus autocratic decision-making in the Roman Catholic Church in the last years of the 20th century (D'Antonio, Davidson, Hoge, and Wallace, 1989, p. 1,3).

This study is a "sequel" to the 1987 survey of American Catholics that resulted in the 1989 volume, American Catholic Laity in a Changing Church. The survey was designed to replicate the earlier study, repeating "most of the questions from 1987, deleting only those that seemed no longer relevant, thus making available space to add new questions. [The] major objective was to carry out a trend analysis, to find out just how much the Catholic laity might have changed..." (D'Antonio, William V., James D. Davidson, Dean R. Hoge, and Ruth A. Wallace, 1996, p. vi).